The Help Call
by nephilimgodling
Summary: "They are the only ones that can help us." WICKED, needed subjects to start the trials and find the cure. It was not easy as it seemed. There were monsters before Grievers existed, complicated places before The Maze was built and love and friendship before the trials started.
1. Chapter 1 - The Subjects

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters (except my OCs) and some of the settings, James Dashner does. (This disclaimer applies for all of the chapters!)**

**A/N: I know their names were different before The Maze, but I didn't change them.**

**CHAPTER 1 - THE SUBJECTS**

"They all think that WICKED will find the cure."

Teresa was nervous, looking at the screen in front of her. People were talking happily, thinking their dreams will come true and they will finally be able to cure the Flare.

"We will," said Thomas, trying not to be nervous. "The _subjects_ will arrive in an hour and we will start the trials immediately." Teresa changed camera's sight. Now they could see the subjects, arriving earlier than they should.

They stood up before Janson got in the room to announce them the subjects arrived. "I guess you already saw it," he said, glancing an unpleased look at Teresa. "Come with me."

Thomas and Teresa followed Janson in a long corridor. When they finally arrived the waiting room, they were both nervous. Thomas was calmer than Teresa; he could see her hands were shaking. He wanted to hold her hand and comfort her but with Janson in front of them, he knew that would be a dangerous thing.

There were over twenty subjects in front of them. They were all boys since WICKED announced that only boys can join the first trial. Some of the faces were scared while some of them were eager. "Follow us to the headquarter room," said Janson.

All the subjects stood up and silently followed them.

"Welcome," said Chancellor Paige, looking at those unfamiliar faces. "I am Chancellor Paige and I think you know the reason why you are here." Thomas started feeling excited too; he just wanted to start the trials. "You will stay here tonight and on the sunset of third day, we will start the trials."

"But what will happen to our families?" a blonde boy with an odd accent asked.

Chancellor Paige slightly smiled. This was a relaxing smile, unlike the other subjects' judging smiles. "They will be safe. They will be even safer if you help us complete the trials." Teresa saw the boy got uncomfortable after these words. "Thomas," Chancellor whispered, turning his back to the subjects. "You and Teresa show them their rooms."

Thomas nodded firmly. They have already planned all of the subjects' rooms. All of the rooms were different because Chancellor Paige wanted to start the trials secretly. All of the rooms were designed with subjects' biggest fears.

While Thomas found this amazing, Teresa found this horrifying.

"We have two floors full of rooms," explained Thomas. "Your rooms are already ready." He exchanged a nervous look with Teresa. "First row," he said, pointing at the first row of the boys. "Follow me."

Then he walked away slowly.

Teresa immediately talked. "Second row, follow me." And then she walked quickly, just to catch up with Thomas. A few second later, they were walking next to each other with subjects behind them.

"Be careful," Thomas said to Teresa.

Teresa was almost going to laugh. "Ah, my Knight in Shining Armor. What, don't you think I can fend for myself?" Thomas stared at the subjects for a second. Then he shook his head.

"Just be careful."

When they arrived to the stairs, Teresa started to understand what Thomas meant. She leaded the subjects to the second floor. She could feel Thomas' eyes on herself until she disappeared.

There were names of the subjects' on the door. So she read the name and showed the room. After ten minutes, all the subjects had a room. Teresa felt relaxed but also felt bad for the subjects. She slowly went downstairs. Thomas was waiting her there.

"I don't understand why they didn't want the girls to arrive today too," said Thomas. He just wanted to start. He knew that the trials secretly started but he wanted them to start officially.

Theresa didn't want to think about the other subjects. "Because if they did, this place would be too crowded. And we don't want them to see each other," she said, "remember?"

They sat on a step.

"I also feel a bit sorry for their families. And the ones who aren't immunes." Teresa didn't want to care about them but she couldn't just acted like they don't have feelings. She could see the pain in their eyes, the scars and the fear.

Thomas held her hand, taking the advantage of being alone with her. "There are only two," he said. "One of them is in boys' group, and the other one is in girl's group. They will be fine. We aren't sending them into a Crank Palace. And we shall not worry about their families."

"But when we chose them, I saw their families and…"

Teresa couldn't even finish her sentence. When they announced the subjects that will attend the trials, she saw their families. Nearly all of the families were immunes but there were some families, which were Cranks.

"If we find the cure," said Thomas, looking at the beautiful face of the girl he knew since his childhood, "they will all be safe."


	2. Chapter 2 - The Simulation Room

**CHAPTER 2 - THE SIMULATION ROOM**

"You shall not let any of the girls see the boys, okay?"

Janson was warning Thomas and Teresa for the fifth time. "We are going to erase their memories anyway, why should we be that much careful?" asked Teresa. She didn't understand why Janson was so nervous. Yesterday, he showed no signs of tension.

"No questioning Miss Agnes."

Janson left to welcome the girls with two other employees of WICKED. "Are the rooms ready?" Thomas asked to Teresa. Teresa nodded and looked at her watch.

"It is seven o'clock. We should tell Chancellor Paige to take the boys to the Simulation Room." Simulation Room was a new thing they invented last month. Even they had some knowledge about the subjects, they had to learn more about them and Simulation Room was the best place for it.

But even Thomas had never been that much afraid from a thing that he invented.

"We just want you to step in, don't worry. You will receive the clearest information inside."

_What a cute way to explain such a horrible thing, _thought Thomas, looking at the door of the Simulation Room. "This won't hurt us, right?" asked a boy with black hair, his voice was rude.

"If you stuck with the information, no. We just want to make sure we have got enough knowledge about you." _No, _thought Thomas. _If you do what they tell you to, you will only get more hurt. _"But we don't have time to waste, who will start the first?"

Actually, she just wanted someone to be a volunteer so the others could think it wouldn't be such a dangerous thing. When a dark-skinned boy stepped forward, she relaxed a bit. "Alby, right?" The boy named Alby nodded.

Thomas looked at Chancellor. "You are going to get in the room with Thomas. Simulation Room is not harmful, remember, you just need to do what he tells you to."

They got in the room. It actually didn't look harmful; there were only two chairs and a wooden table. Thomas memorized the things he should say two days ago, he could use a script paper to remember them but he was so nervous that he didn't even need the paper. They both sat.

"So Alby," he said, trying to put on a relaxing smile like Chancellor did. "How old are you?" An easy question like this surprised Alby. He was trying to prepare himself for a worse thing.

He stopped for a moment, trying to understand if he heard the question wrong. "I am seventeen," he said. Thomas wrote this on the paper in front of him. Actually, they already knew these things. He asked these just to make him feel less nervous.

"What about your family?"

Thomas could understand that Alby was missing his family; even they weren't far away from him now. "If you are asking about their immunity…"

"No, no," said Thomas immediately. He was doing this to gain Alby's trust. "It is not the part that matters. Even if they are not immune, they will be treated after we find the cure with your help." _Teresa would be proud of my words, _he thought.

Alby seemed relaxed for a moment. "My mum is probably nervously waiting for me. Even she knows I won't come for a long while. My dad is probably trying to calm down our relatives. They were so angry when they learnt I volunteered. They don't believe you will find a cure."

"Why?" asked Thomas, writing unimportant things about Alby's family on the paper.

Alby shrugged. "One of my cousins became a Crank and after seeing him that way, they don't believe that Flare is curable. I have never seen a Crank on real life even though we see pictures of them while watching the news."

Thomas noted this too. "Have you got any sisters or brothers?" he asked.

"No."

He didn't note that, those were all unimportant facts except the parts about his relatives and him never seeing a Crank in real life. Thomas once saw a Crank and it was probably the worst experience of his life. _The Crank I saw was past the Gone, _he thought.

"So, let's talk about _the girl_."

Alby furrowed his eyebrows as a reflex. He didn't expect a question like that. And Thomas was not being so straight; this was probably disturbing for Alby. "I-I don't exactly understand what you are saying."

"I am sure you are searching for true love, or maybe you found your love of your life." This was a very personal question actually, Thomas was not willing to ask this question but he had some duties. "Don't worry Alby. Although you live in a world with Flare, you are a teenager."

Alby couldn't look Thomas in the eye. But he answered the question. "Yes," he said, "there is a girl but I don't know what will happen after I go back. I just want her to be safe."

"Is she a Munie?"

Thomas didn't stop staring at Alby. He knew this topic was making him nervous and this was a real success for Thomas. He was slowly reaching his aim. "She isn't. But she isn't a Crank yet." His voice trembled and went down.

"She is the reason you are joining the trials, right?" Thomas didn't write this on the paper, so Alby could trust him. He nodded. "Don't worry, this will stay between you and me."

Alby was nearly going to cry and Thomas wanted to let him go. He learnt the main thing but he remembered the warnings Janson and Chancellor Paige told to her. "Thank you," Alby whispered, in a relaxed voice.

Just for a moment, Thomas felt sorry to betray him.

_You are not even friends, _then he said to himself. _You are just doing your work, everybody lies. _"Now Alby,"said Thomas, opening the secret drawer in the table. He took a little glass of serum from the drawer. "I want you to drink this. Trust me, it won't hurt you."

Thomas looked suspicious for Alby but he knew he had to obey. He drank the serum at once, holding his breath. Everything started being blurry, soon, Alby couldn't see Thomas.

There were lots of faces instead.

Some of them belonged to Cranks; Alby closed his eyes to avoid seeing them. They were scarier in real life than on television. But one of the Cranks' faces were similar, and this made Alby shake.

He saw the person he loved. But she didn't have that beautiful smile on her face. Her face was covered with blood and scars. Alby wanted to reach her but he knew that she could hurt her.

"My dear," he said, shedding some tears. "What happened to you?"


	3. Chapter 3 - The Sister

**CHAPTER 3 – THE SISTER**

"We need to let him out," said Teresa, anxiously biting her lip. "Chancellor Paige, we _really _need to let him out. He can't stand that much pain." She didn't want to act this way, but while Alby was shouting at the faces only he could see, Teresa didn't want to watch it with a smile on her face.

Chancellor Paige looked at the other subjects in the room. They weren't hearing Alby's screams or his face turning white with fear. While Teresa and Janson were watching this terrifying scene with her, she wanted Alby to keep staying there. She could reach his brain modules while watching him, and she was keeping track of what happening in his brain.

After doing some things with the computer, she turned to Teresa. "Tell Thomas to finish the simulation." It was a simple order with only six words but it made Teresa feel lightweight. She might be a strong fighter and an intelligent scientist but that didn't mean she could watch people going crazy.

She ran into the Simulation Room, she opened the door without knocking. When she got in, Thomas understood that he has to finish the simulation. Thomas immediately made Alby drink the antidote. After drinking the clear liquid, Alby fell on the floor.

"That's normal," said Thomas, trying to relax Teresa. "He will get up after half an hour."

Teresa got out of the room with Thomas while an employee of WICKED went in to take Alby to infirmary. "But what about the things he saw? Do you think he will forget these faces after half an hour? This is pure cruelty. It just makes me hate it." She whispered the last sentence because Chancellor Paige was standing next to her.

"Who wants to be next?" asked Chancellor. They were all looking afraid because they saw Alby going to infirmary unconscious. "Don't worry about your friend, this is a side effect of going into the Simulation Room. But after half an hour, he will be better than he was before."

Teresa's face whitened with fear. She knew this was her turn now. The blond boy who asked about his family stepped forward. "No," whispered Teresa. "Not him. Not the not-immune-boy." But she just put on a fake smile and got in the Simulation Room with him. _I came over harder things, what is happening to me? _she thought angrily.

"So," said Teresa when they both sat on the chairs. "I guess your name was Newt?" Newt nodded and Teresa smiled. "Okay, Newt. Can you tell me the main reason you are joining the trials?"

Teresa had to accept that this wasn't the best question to start a painful simulation. She tried to make him feel comfortable like Thomas did to Alby. Newt stopped for a moment, Teresa understood he was trying to find an answer that wouldn't make him look weak. "I am joining the trials for my sister."

Even though it wasn't a direct answer, it was clear that Newt's sister wasn't immune, just like him. "What happened to your sister?" she asked, trying to Newt tell everything about his sister.

"I am sure you are clever enough to understand," he said angrily. Teresa breathed in, thinking of what she should say next. "She is a bloody Crank."

"What about the rest of your family? Are they Munies?" Newt nodded, he didn't want to talk about it. But he thought he should've understood that getting into the Simulation Room wasn't going to be easy. Teresa looked at the camera in the room, if there weren't a camera, she would talk so much different to him. "But, after we find the cure, she will be alright."

Newt laughed with anger. "Do you really think you will find the bloody cure? I am trying to be hopeful but I am not really sure that you can find the cure!" Teresa wasn't sure either but she didn't say this.

"If you help us," she said, trying to use a peaceful voice instead of getting in a discussion with him. "We really will." They both didn't talk for a while. "On the second day, you will be able to see your families for the last time. I know you care about your family so much, but remember, you are here to help them."

Newt didn't say a thing but it was obvious the news made him happier.

"What about your education?" asked Teresa this time. She was trying to learn more about him. "I guess you are sixteen."

"Well, I was home-schooled until my mum discovered that her children weren't immune. So she stopped our lessons. It wasn't possible to learn something in a place like this anyway." He was right. Flare have destroyed their opportunity to live a great life forever. And if WICKED wouldn't find the cure, Flare would destroy their opportunity to live too.

Teresa was so thankful because she was immune.

She took the serum glass out of the drawer because she didn't have anything left to say. And looking at the face of the poor boy was not making it easier for her. She didn't want him to drink the serum either, actually. She knew this was going to make him see his worst fears. "Drink this," she said, giving the glass to Newt. Newt looked at the blue liquid with worry. Then he drank the whole liquid at once.

"Sorry," whispered Teresa, as the serum went through Newt's throat. "I am sorry for everything."

Newt knew he shouldn't drink this but he didn't have a better thing to do. And Chancellor Paige told them that if they did what they told, nothing harmful would happen. At this point, the only think he could do was trusting her.

Suddenly, the pale face of Teresa disappeared and left its place to a face Newt known for a real long time. He saw a face that looks alike to him. He wanted to close his eyes, he knew this was an illusion, he was never going to see his sister like this.

She would sometimes gain some sanity, but he knew as the time passed by, she would be totally insane. He didn't want this to happen, that was the only true reason he joined the trials. If he would find the cure, then her sister would be all right again.

"Brother?"

He didn't want this simulation to last longer. This was enough for him. "Sylvia?" he asked to his sister who is not really there. He also wished to see her sister like this again. But a simulation he knew that will never come true was making it harder for him.

"It's me," said Sylvia. The pain in her voice was obvious. Newt wanted to wake up, he knew this was not real. This was too perfect to real. He had to open his eyes. This was just WICKED's cruelty. The day before he left the house, Sylvia told them that WICKED would never find the cure.

_"They are growing our hopes and then they will kill them one by one."_

Her words affected him a lot. "This is not you. I know I will never get to see you this sane when I come home." He closed his eyes, he didn't want to scream. He wanted to let all those hallucinations go away. "Go away, this is not Sylvia," he whispered to the image.

"I am so disappointed brother," said the image. "How come can you not remember me?"

Teresa, didn't want to watch all of those things. She wished she could just end everything with giving him the antidote and make his mind clear again. But if she did this, Chancellor would see it. She wished they had never put a camera here.

While sitting there, she couldn't see the face Newt was seeing but she was pretty sure that this face belonged to his sister. She was also sure that it was painful. _Subjects don't deserve this, _she thought in despair.

After minutes that felt like forever, Thomas got in the room and she didn't let him say anything. She just made Newt drink the antidote before even he couldn't understand what happened.

When all the faces he saw were gone, Newt fell on the floor unconscious just like Alby.

While he was taken to the infirmary, Teresa was trying to ignore her shaking hands. But Thomas saw the despair on her face. They walked out of the room. It was Thomas' turn now.

"I can't stand this anymore, Tom," said Teresa, trying to gain hope from the thought of them helping the people with the cure. But it didn't help. There were so many boys that were going to face their biggest fears too.

_Fears are stronger than hopes, _thought Teresa.


	4. Chapter 4 - WICKED Is Good

**CHAPTER 4 – WICKED IS GOOD**

**A/N: Thanks to AsgardianGrizzly so much for the review. No, I haven't heard of Feveraco before. And also thanks to the ones who follow or favorite my story. And sorry if my Teresa is a bit out of character. :)****  
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"What is happening to them?" asked an Asian subject who seemed very strong and sporty. "Fainting is not normal!" Chancellor Paige looked at Thomas, Thomas could do nothing but shrugged. He couldn't make a better serum that keeps the subjects away from fainting.

"I told you," said Chancellor Paige. "This is a side effect of the serum. If you don't believe me, maybe you should be the third one." The boy looked at Thomas like he was a murderer. He made Thomas feel weird, like he _really _was a murderer. "What was your name?" asked Chancellor. But she answered the question before getting her answer. "I guess Minho."

Minho nodded. "I hope I will believe you after the simulation."

"Trust me, you will."

Thomas got in the room with the subject who seemed dangerous. Thomas thought that if he didn't live in a world like that, he would probably be a marathon runner and win lots of medals. He also seemed so intelligent and sarcastic.

When they both sat, Thomas felt uncomfortable. _He is just a subject, just like the others. Just because he is more dangerous than Alby, that doesn't mean that he is more intelligent than you. _He kept saying these to himself, so he maybe would feel better, but it didn't help him at all.

"Minho," he said, trying to decide what to ask to his boy. He was trying to find something that can shock him. "Why do you think that WICKED will find a cure?" He had to admit that this was a different question.

Minho seemed surprised, he waited a question about his reason to join the trials, and he has already made up an answer for this question. But this was a question he wasn't ready. "Who told you I think that way?"

"Because, if you didn't believe in WICKED you wouldn't join the trials. You don't seem like an illogical person Minho. Now, tell me the true answer, so you can get out of this room easily," said Thomas without even stopping before saying this.

Minho stopped for a while, he actually didn't really know the answer. Everyone around him believed that WICKED would find a cure, so he did too. And when he heard the announcement, he thought it was the best chance to help the whole humanity.

"I don't actually know," he said, trying not to put his defense down. "Maybe _you _should give me the answer of it since you really believe that you can find a cure. You do believe in WICKED, right?"

Thomas felt relaxed because he didn't let Minho go into the Simulation Room with Teresa. Teresa didn't approve what WICKED was doing, a question like that could make her faith teeter very easily. "Of course I do," answered Thomas. "But you don't have the right to question me, I have the right to question you right now."

"I guess you don't even know the answer."

Thomas started focusing on this boy's fears. He was sure that he had some fears. Everyone had some fears. They usually try to cover it with sarcasm or bad behaviors. But he had to learn his fears. "I _do _know the answer. But you don't have to."

"Have you ever seen a Crank?"

Minho stopped after this question, memorizing his past. "Yes, I have," then he answered silently. But he didn't seem to be scared of Cranks. _There must be something different, _thought Thomas. "So many Cranks. They are all ugly. And they are all cannibals. Not an experience I'd like to have again."

"No one wants to see a Crank, Minho. And everyone tries to hide from them. I am sure your family tried to save you from them. But why did you see some Cranks? Because you wanted to see something interesting? Or just because you were so curious? How did you not get killed? You know, Cranks are really dangerous. More dangerous than a boy like you."

Minho laughed. His laugh had anger in it. It was pretty obvious that he didn't want to talk about this. But that was the point of the Simulation Room, it made you talk about the things you don't want to. If Thomas didn't know any of his fears, the serum probably wouldn't work on him either. Because the serum, worked with the subject's brain and the subject's last words.

"It is none of your business, WICKED boy."

"It is a great answer for a coward boy like you," said Thomas, trying to develop a better strategy. "I guess you are not brave enough to tell me the real answer. But I think I can understand it, you have got some fears and you don't want people to know them. But you know what? This makes you a coward."

What he said was full of lies. Having some fears was not just for cowards. The bravest hero in the world also had some fears and he probably did not want to talk about it. This was the point of having fears, you always want to ignore them, but the rule to overcome your fears is working on them.

"Then tell me about your fears, have you ever seen a Crank? If not telling my fears is making me a coward, and then you might show me how to not be a coward. Tell me, seriously. I dare you to tell me your fears." Minho challenged Thomas with his sharp words.

Thomas opened the drawer and took the silver liquid. There were so many glasses of serums in the drawer and Thomas would choose a different color for every different subject. Silver, was just for Minho. "_I _dare you to drink this. If you can drink this, then I will tell you my fears. If you don't drink this, that will also mean that you are a coward."

"I don't usually do stupid things like that but today, just for you WICKED boy, I might do an exception and drink this."

Then he drank the serum and Thomas started watching. "Oh no," Minho said, before Thomas' face got blurry. Even when he was seeing hallucinations, he wasn't stopping being sarcastic. "Am I going to faint or something? Is that what this room-"

He couldn't even finish his sentence. His face went white, her eyes widened. Thomas wanted to see what he was seeing, Teresa and Chancellor Paige could see it from the computer, but he couldn't. He wished he invented glasses that made him see every hallucination.

Minho stood up, unlike the other subject, Alby. Thomas was right. Minho was ready to fight, maybe he really was a runner, or at least a very sporty person. Because his movements were really fast, he could have hurt Thomas. He started running in the room.

"It is getting out of the control Chancellor," he said, looking at the camera and pointing Minho. "May I stop it?"

He heard Chancellor's voice in the room. "No," was her clear answer. "I don't want you to stop the simulation, until we get his real fear. The things he is seeing are only the fears we all have got. Cranks, being kidnapped or something like that."

"It seems like he doesn't have any fears Chancellor," Thomas said. Even he couldn't believe that he said something like this. Everyone had some fears, there were no exceptions. "I don't want to believe this but-"

Chancellor didn't let him finish his sentence. "Just like you were going to say. We all have fears Thomas. You only have to sit there and wait until we learn his fears. But don't let him hurt you. If there is something urgent that we need to interfere, we will. We won't let a subject hurt you."

Minho was screaming, Thomas couldn't understand what was going on. He wanted to get out of this room and see what was really happening. He wanted to saw the imaginary things Minho's mind created. Actually, that was hidden in Minho's mind.

This was what the simulation serum did.

It pulled the worst things, the worst feelings and emotions from your deepest thoughts and you had to face them. When you drank the antidote, it would make your brain stop for a second, which meant you could actually die in this moment if you get too much antidote. Chancellor told it once happen.

Teresa came into the room running. "Stop it!" she screamed. Thomas couldn't understand if this was an order from Chancellor or just Teresa's inner thoughts. But he didn't see anyone pulling Teresa out of the room, so he thought it was really an order from Chancellor.

He took the antidote. All of the antidotes were in a clear color like water. They were pure, so pure that they make you die for a second. When Minho drank the antidote, he fell on the floor like the other subjects. But something different happened this time.

While he was falling on the floor, he screamed in despair and anger. "WICKED is not good!"

Teresa and Thomas looked each other. "WICKED is good," was their slogan and also password. They only told this to each other. No one on the outside knew this. And know, Minho was saying the exact opposite of this slogan.

"WICKED is wicked," he could only whisper while the employees came to take him to the infirmary. They didn't hear the words he told after he fainted because they already stopped paying attention to him, probably Chancellor didn't hear it either.

But Thomas and Teresa did.


	5. Chapter 5 - The New Plan

**CHAPTER 5 - THE NEW PLAN**

**A/N: Thanks to StarRunner1 for the review and sorry for the little break. Also this chapter is so short but I am not able to write these days. :/**

"I told you," said Teresa. "What we did was going to cause some real big troubles at some point. Minho is probably going to be one of them! They are all going to be!" They told the subjects that they could leave and know Thomas, Teresa, Janson and Chancellor were about to have a discussion.

When Chancellor and Janson got into the room, Teresa stopped complaining. She could be a rebellious girl but that never meant that she would act like she didn't care. "We need to find another method," was the first thing Chancellor said. It was clear enough for Thomas.

"I will try something different," he said, ideas floating up in his mind.

Chancellor looked at Thomas intently. "Do you have anything in your mind?" she asked. They only had one and a half day left which seemed not enough for them at that moment. Thomas stopped for a second, thinking.

"Actually," he started talking, "I have been thinking about something for a while." This was a hard thing to say because he had told his new method to Teresa and she didn't like it very much. Things didn't bother Teresa unless they were cruel or hurt the subjects.

But these were the things WICKED's methods were made of.

"I am waiting." Then Thomas started telling them the idea he was thinking of for a long time.

"We made a mistake," said Siggy. "Why did we even trust them? Like, what were we expecting from an organization called _WICKED?_ Their name was pretty obvious!"

Minho was sitting at the chair, drinking some water to feel better. He had a real bad headache. Alby was still in the infirmary. Although he was the first one to get in, he couldn't handle the serum very well. Newt was also sitting but he refused to tell a word, his face was still white.

"You know that we can just leave, right?" said a boy named Ben. "We are here to help them cure the Flare."

All the boys sighed. They all knew that this was the great goal they were trying to reach. But it also seemed pretty impossible after all those things that they saw and felt. WICKED was an organization to create another disease like the Flare, they thought.

"How are we even going to that? I hope they at least know that they can't find a cure if they poison us all. Seriously, how did you guys feel after you drink that thing?"

"If someone asks this question again, I'll make sure that he will be the next to drink the serum," answered Minho. "Clear enough?"

They all knew that Minho was a sarcastic and witty boy. He was the person that everyone would want to hang up with, but they also hated him. Minho knew what they felt, but he never cared. "Maybe we might talk to them," said Ben, trying to solve their common problem.

"Do you really think that they would listen to us?" said Siggy, it was obvious that he was mocking. "Ben, they don't care about us!"

"What if they do Siggy?" a boy asked, taking Ben's sentence serious. "Yes, Chancellor and the old man might not but the boy and the girl might really listen to us."

Minho smirked. "Trust me Winston, WICKED boy is not someone you would like to talk to. But we might try the girl. Even though if she did, what do you think would change?"

"A lot," answered Ben instead of Winston.

"Then we really might try it." Pairs of eyes turned to Newt. He was the only one who talked to Teresa personally.

"Why are you looking at me like you just fell in love with me?"

"Someone is feeling a bit _cranky _today."

Minho poked Newt. "You are the only one that talked to the girl. We don't even know his name." Newt looked at Minho, he didn't understand the point because he wasn't listening to their conversation. "We want to talk to her, about the pre-trials."

"Well, she seemed a bit moody but she doesn't seem as scary as the boy."

"Aren't we all?"

Newt shrugged. "She might listen to you but don't get shocked if she stabs you with a knife." Minho smirked as he got his answer.

"Great," he said. "Then let's give it a try."


	6. Chapter 6 - The Talk

**CHAPTER 6 – THE TALK**

**A/N: Sorry for the long break, I have a lack of confidence because my main language is not English and I think my English is not enough to tell a worth-to-read story. Your reviews mean a lot, thanks! :)**

"Just make sure you don't get killed by one of those guys," said Thomas, still surprised because of the courage of the subjects. "I still can't believe that Chancellor let this just so they will stay."

"Don't worry Tom," answered Teresa giggling nervously. "You know how tough I am."

Thomas couldn't help but smile at Teresa's response. "You're right, maybe I should start feeling nervous for them." Thomas checked his watch and looked at the room filled with the subjects. "You only have five minutes, so make them trust you and then come straight-"

"I know what to do, you don't need to worry."

Thomas realized how awkward he was acting. He was acting like a protective… boyfriend. "Just be quick," he muttered while Teresa nearly ran to reach the room. She wanted to finish it quickly as much as Thomas did.

* * *

><p>"We want to be treated as people, not some subjects you can make experiments on."<p>

Teresa couldn't hep but mock. "Yeah but the point is, you are subjects we have to make experiments on." Then she got serious and continued. "Look, I know this experiments are making you feel bad. Trust me, even if I work in WICKED, I can understand how you all feel."

"I know these tests and simulations are all necessary but isn't there a way to make it by not nearly killing us?"

She didn't know if Newt was also mocking but at some point he was right. WICKED was too hard on the subjects but there wasn't any other way to test them. By 'nearly killing them', they were testing their limits.

"But you want your family to be cured, right?" Teresa asked, hitting Newt's weak point. "Trust me, we are doing these experiments and tests for a reason. Yes, they may be hard for you but at the end all the Cranks will be cured."

She didn't want to use that word, but she had to. They had to make them believe in WICKED and since Thomas probably wouldn't be able to do that, this was her responsibility.

"Yes but I am sure that there is another way to find the cure! We still don't understand it. Why do you need to test us that much hard to find a cure?" Teresa sighed silently. She was asking this question to herself for a real long time.

She had shown herself like a numb person, at least she tried. She tried to look like she didn't have feelings but she did and she knew that testing subjects that way wasn't the true thing to do. "I know," she mumbled, feeling embarrassed. "But I can't tell you why."

That was a lie. She of course could tell her why, only if she also knew the real reason. Chancellor Paige was telling them that this was for good and WICKED was also good. But she was having a real hard time believing WICKED was actually good.

"If you want us to keep this as a secret, we really can! Just tell us..." This conversation was starting to get on her nerves. She just wanted to get out of this room. "Or you can tell me. First, we thought of talking to you together but now we changed our minds."

Teresa didn't need this information. "I can't tell you or any of you. This is the end of our conversation." Then she sat up, feeling really bad for talking to him that way. But she knew that this was supposed to happen.

She got out of the room without telling any other thing.

"This lasted longer than ten minutes! Teresa, I was getting nervous!" Thomas was waiting him in front of the door. But Teresa could swear that he talked to Chancellor Paige because whenever he did, he would have a weird expression on his face, just like now.

Teresa sighed again, this time because of anger. "I hate not being able to tell them anything. Not because of the rules, you know, I don't care about them most of the time. But because I seriously don't know anything!" Teresa was getting tired of this and she knew Thomas also was.

"How many times do I need to tell you that if WICKED is not telling us what's happening, that is because of a reason."

"I know but the problem is we are WICKED, Thomas. If we were subjects, that would be an acceptable excuse but we work in WICKED, we design their wicked tests and all, so we need to know everything!"

Thomas hated making this conversation with Teresa over and over, saying the same things every time. "So, if we are WICKED, don't you believe in yourself? Don't you believe in us? Everything will be clear when it has to be Teresa."

"Should I really believe you?" asked Teresa, her voice trembling because she is laughing nervously. "Or should I believe in Chancellor Paige?"

Thomas was longing to finish this conversation. "Even if you don't believe in me or Chancellor Paige, don't act this way in front of her. If she thinks you are suspicious, you know what will happen next." Teresa knew. They didn't want the unfaithful ones in WICKED.

So they would get rid of her.

"Yeah," said Teresa, trying not to act so nervous. "I know, you can trust me." Even though she didn't believe in WICKED, she didn't want them to get rid of her. Also she wouldn't leave Thomas here. Not because he wouldn't be able to take care of himself, because Teresa would miss him so badly.

Thomas had been her friend since they started working for WICKED.

Thomas looked at the empty room. "OK, so let's go find her. She told me that she needs out help to design a new simulation."

"A new simulation?" asked Teresa, frowning. "I don't want to help them!" She wanted to scream it louder but of course she didn't. Thomas looked at her, obviously tired.

"Come on Teresa, don't act like this. You know they need out help." Teresa knew this, and that was one of the points that she find ridiculous. "Actually, we found a new simulation but we want to test it."

* * *

><p>"You want to test the simulation on me? Why didn't you tell me that before?"<p>

She was totally surprised by that new fact. She couldn't understand why Thomas didn't tell her about this. But she was ready to face with anything. So she told herself she will be fine after the simulation. "Because we thought that you can adopt into any situation, just like you should Miss Agnes."

"Of course I can," said Teresa, still feeling a bit surprised. "What do you need to inject?"

Chancellor Paige smiled cruelly. "Nothing. This time, we have a headgear for you to wear." While Thomas placed the headgear on her head, Teresa asked.

"But that will make things more obvious for the subjects, why are we using this way?"

"You act like injecting them some serums weren't making this obvious for them. Just plug in the charger Thomas. Good luck Teresa."

And at the point Thomas plugged in the charger, Teresa understood that she will need some real good luck.


	7. Chapter 7 - The New Invention

**CHAPTER 7 - THE NEW INVENTION**

**A/N: Please review, your thoughts mean a lot to me. If I have any mistakes, please inform me so I can improve my writing and English. :) And also, the more you review, the faster I post the new chapter. :) Thank you for reading. :)**

What she first saw was her mother. That young woman with beautiful green eyes, a compassionate smile and wavy dark brown curls over her shoulder. She smiled even though she could realize that these weren't real. But it felt real and she had to take advantage of that.

"Teresa?" asked her mother with her beautiful and soft voice. Teresa could almost feel her salty tears running down on her cheek. "You have grown up a lot since I last saw you." That was right, it had been about ten years since she saw her mother for the last time.

While her mother took her hand, she was trying not to cry so hard. She knew that was a simulation and Chancellor was probably watching her. If she cried, that would mean she was weak. Crying wasn't a sign of being weak but she knew that Chancellor and Thomas didn't think that way. "I missed you so much mother," she said. Her mother was one of the saddest parts of her life in WICKED. She always thought that she would never see her again.

When her mother hugged her, the hallucination disappeared. "What is happening?!" screamed Teresa, nearly at the same time with Chancellor Paige. "Did something go wrong?" She knew that this wasn't how the simulation should have ended.

"So it is clear that I have done a real big mistake by trusting you, Thomas. You told me that the machine is ready and it is the smartest thing you've ever invented! If this is the smartest you created, well, I don't want to try the other!"

These words were so cruel for only a small mistake but Thomas didn't seem offended. Actually, he seemed like he was proud of his work. "No, Chancellor Paige. I just realized that I plugged in something wrong." This was still his mistake but he was totally fine with it. "We may try again, now I did the right thing. I am sure it will work this time."

"We don't need to waste our time with your useless machine. Make me something better Thomas!"

When Chancellor left the room with mean steps, there was a smirk on Thomas's face. "I just saved your life, you are welcome."

"What do you mean?"

Teresa was surprised, this wasn't what she expected. She thought Thomas would go straight to his 'invention room' and make some other torture machines. But, smiling to Teresa and saying he saved her life was not one of her guesses. "You have no idea about how evil this machine was going to become. So I saved your life, also your love and respect for your mother."

"W-What d-do you m-mean?"

This time, she was not surprised, she was totally shocked and thinking of the fact that she doesn't get shocked easily, this was an exception. "You know how my inventions work, they use your loved ones as a weapon against you. Your mother could turn into a monster and I just didn't want that to happen."

"Now you really are my Knight in Shining Armor." She stopped for a second, thinking of what Thomas had done. "You care more about me than you care about what Chancellor thinks about you." And this was a big compliment for Teresa.

Thomas laughed, slightly stepping out of the room to probably create a better torture machine. "Thank you Miss Agnes, finally I can be approved by you." Teresa giggled, hitting Thomas's shoulder softly. "But I seriously need to create another machine and I don't have enough time. It will be midnight soon and then the second day of our pre-trials will start."

"Ugh," Teresa groaned. "If I hate these pre-trials so much, I will probably hate the real trials even more. I can't believe we only have a day and a... half? I don't know, does five hours count as half?" Everything was becoming harder and harder. WICKED needed to understand that they were all only teenagers.

Teenagers needed to be understood but in a world that Flare exists, nobody cared about silly teenagers. Teresa knew that this thought was making both of them angry. And probably the other subjects were also thinking this way.

"Come with me," said Thomas, trying so hard to not hold Teresa's hand. "We have a machine to create, a pre-trial to go on, and some time to spend together alone."

Teresa was almost going to laugh at the thought of spending some time in Thomas's 'invention room'. But when she understood that he was serious, she stopped. "Really? You never show someone your private laboratory?"

"Well, you are special," he said, getting out of the room with her. He was walking so fast that Teresa had some trouble catching up with him. But when they reached the laboratory, he smiled and opened the door. "Enjoy."

Teresa closed the door after getting in. "You can't be serious," she said in impress, looking at Thomas's inventions. She couldn't count them but there were many for a boy of only sixteen years. "Thomas, you really are a genius!"

She stared at the inventions, then checked some of them. They were all working and there was a paper in front of each, telling how it worked and why it worked. Thomas was so organized while working despite the room he stayed.

"I am not a genius Teresa," he said, as usual. "I just love to work and create new things. Although I make inventions for WICKED most of the time, there are some machines I created to help people. Because this is what I want to do, not to learn people's fears. I want to help them overcome their fears."

These were such wise sentences from a boy who still thought that WICKED was good. Teresa could understand the difference but she didn't want to point it out because if she did, they would probably have another quarrel.

And she didn't want to have another one with her old friend.

"But that doesn't change the fact that you need to create another thing." This was making Thomas nervous, what they just tried on Teresa was one of his most amazing inventions. "They all work the same at some point, why do you try to create something more evil?" She didn't know if more evil inventions existed but she also didn't want to learn.

Thomas sat on his chair by his white long table. There were so many notes, some drawings and ideas waiting to be created. Teresa smiled at how much he was into his creations. "Because this is what Chancellor Paige wants me to do. She wants me to break through the subjects' limits." Teresa nodded slowly in approval because that was the least she could do.

"Let's create the evilest thing Chancellor Paige can ever imagine then."

* * *

><p>"So you mean it didn't go great," said Minho, resting his head on the sofa. "Don't try to hide the sad truth with details Newt. We all understood the truth by now, we failed!" It was hard to understand if he was mocking or serious.<p>

Newt didn't want to talk about the conversation anymore. Yes, he failed at learning the truth about WICKED's evil tests. "Stop talking about this bloody thing," he said angrily. He just wanted to sleep, because it was nearly midnight but he knew he was going to see nightmares.

Nightmares were scary and Newt didn't want to deal with them.

"I think the best thing to do is going to bed," said Alby. He seemed like a leader, even though nobody officially announced that. But he seemed strong, brave and he was also older than the others. Actually they were only a year apart but that still made him older.

They all agreed and decided that they need to sleep. The pre-trials was probably going to start early tomorrow, so they all needed a great sleep. But they all knew that they were going to deal with their inner monsters and nightmares by the time they were alone.

They all knew it yet nobody told it. Because that was the rule, it was nearly impossible to talk about the harmful problems.

"Tomorrow is going to be a hard day," he muttered, going into his own room and trying to sleep without being able to do any other thing.


End file.
